YouTube deal for Ashes

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has confirmed details of its live streaming deal with YouTube for this summer’s Ashes.

The partnership – which excludes the UK and Ireland – will make live coverage of England’s five-game Ashes Test match series against Australia available free of charge this summer on the site in territories across Europe and Latin America. Coverage will be carried on the ECB’s official YouTube
channel in 53 countries, including 42 on the European mainland and 11 in Latin America.

One-minute highlights packages from each session will be available to viewers of the ECB channel across the world, including the UK and Ireland, where the live TV rights are held exclusively by Sky Sports.

“This is the ECB’s first venture into live streaming of cricket online, so is groundbreaking territory for us,” said ECB chief executive David Collier. “We receive numerous requests from cricket fans in regions where there is no broadcast TV offering, and therefore we are delighted that many will be able to enjoy this Investec Ashes Series. It is also important that we play a role in the expansion of the game to countries that do not traditionally play nor watch the sport.”